Penn Pike chief provokes fierce denunciations
Posted Wed, 2007-11-21 21:40
Pennsylvania Turnpike CEO Joseph Brimmeier is provoking fierce attacks on the Turnpike Commission. His hometown newspaper the Pittsburgh Tribune Review's editorial this morning is an example. Under the headline "Turnpike termerity: stop the games" they denounced the Turnpike demand that US Congressman John Peterson from northern Pennsylvania provide ID and proof of residency before they would consider his request for details of the Commission's spending on lobbyists.
Charging the Turnpike Commission was "sparing no expense to preserve its haven of political patronage" they
concluded:
"This frivolously spending agency of self-preservation should be relegated to history. Instead it is enlarging its domain with control of I-80, and doing so on the public dime. That's the real toll which should draw
Pennsylvanians' ire."
Jake Corman Majority Policy Chairman of the state senate has released some blistering letters he has written to Brimmeier and Mitchell Rubin, the chairman of the Turnpike Commission.
A letter to Brimmeier dated August 1 attacks him and the Turnpike Commission for trying to make state policy through lobbying and public attacks on state legislators:
"...it is the general assembly who is accountable to the public. The Turnpike, its commissioners and its employees are not responsible for shaping public policy. I suggest you leave it to the public officials to sort out what is best for Pennsylvania's motorists and transportation infrastructure.
"You have overstepped your bounds in publicly admonishing elected officials who have every right to comment and shape public policy as it relates to the Commission..."
Alluding to the public corruption indictments of the Turnpike's principal political patron Senator Vincent Fumo and the wife of the Turnpike chairman by a federal grand jury Corman says: "the public is very much aware of the shady hiring practices and no-work employment contracts given by the Turnpike Commission..."
Full copy of the Corman-Brimmeier letter downloadable here.
A letter by Senator Corman cosigned by Senator Don White to Mitchell Rubin, chairman of the Turnpike Commission dated January 23 charges that the Turnpike's employment of lobbyists and political consultants to campaign against a lease and concession of the Turnpike is illegal.
Full copy of Corman-White letter to Rubin downloadable here.
TOLLROADSnews 2007-11-21
Pennsylvania Turnpike CEO Joseph Brimmeier is provoking fierce attacks on the Turnpike Commission. His hometown newspaper the Pittsburgh Tribune Review's editorial this morning is an example. Under the headline "Turnpike termerity: stop the games" they denounced the Turnpike demand that US Congressman John Peterson from northern Pennsylvania provide ID and proof of residency before they would consider his request for details of the Commission's spending on lobbyists.Charging the Turnpike Commission was "sparing no expense to preserve its haven of political patronage" they
concluded: "This frivolously spending agency of self-preservation should be relegated to history. Instead it is enlarging its domain with control of I-80, and doing so on the public dime. That's the real toll which should draw
Pennsylvanians' ire."Jake Corman Majority Policy Chairman of the state senate has released some blistering letters he has written to Brimmeier and Mitchell Rubin, the chairman of the Turnpike Commission.A letter to Brimmeier dated August 1 attacks him and the Turnpike Commission for trying to make state policy through lobbying and public attacks on state legislators:
"...it is the general assembly who is accountable to the public. The Turnpike, its commissioners and its employees are not responsible for shaping public policy. I suggest you leave it to the public officials to sort out what is best for Pennsylvania's motorists and transportation infrastructure.
"You have overstepped your bounds in publicly admonishing elected officials who have every right to comment and shape public policy as it relates to the Commission..."
Alluding to the public corruption indictments of the Turnpike's principal political patron Senator Vincent Fumo and the wife of the Turnpike chairman by a federal grand jury Corman says: "the public is very much aware of the shady hiring practices and no-work employment contracts given by the Turnpike Commission..."
Full copy of the Corman-Brimmeier letter downloadable here.
A letter by Senator Corman cosigned by Senator Don White to Mitchell Rubin, chairman of the Turnpike Commission dated January 23 charges that the Turnpike's employment of lobbyists and political consultants to campaign against a lease and concession of the Turnpike is illegal.
Full copy of Corman-White letter to Rubin downloadable here.
TOLLROADSnews 2007-11-21
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| CormanJoeBrimm.pdf | 171.93 KB |
| CormanRubin.pdf | 118.05 KB |